


Under the Tarpaulin

by RhysLahey



Series: Scisaac short fics [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Alternate Universe - Western, Beekeeping, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Sprinkleprompts, Trying to convince myself that I can write one-shots, beehives, trapped in a dust storm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24981298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RhysLahey/pseuds/RhysLahey
Summary: Royal Mounted Police Officers Allison Argent and Scott McCall need to hide in Lydia Martin's farm during a dust storm. Enter farmhand Isaac Lahey.
Relationships: Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall
Series: Scisaac short fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960519
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Under the Tarpaulin

**Author's Note:**

> Given the prompt by Sprinkledcupcake "Western Fairytale/ A broken gate/ During a dust storm" this is the result. I do not know why I mixed Mounties and beekeeping, but the prairies stretch into Canada, and this was most definitely what nobody expected (or asked for!).
> 
> I failed on the 'fairytale' bit, though :(

Royal Mounted Police Corporal Allison Argent and Constable Scott McCall noticed the grey-brown clouds that announced a dust storm forming in the distance, and they hurried towards the nearest farm before the storm engulfed them. By the time they got to Beacon Ranch, the trees around the farmhouse were rattling in the strong wind, and they could see farm workers hurrying up and down pulling animals into safety and securing shutters on the windows.

“Over here!” one of the young farmhands waved at them. “Here, leave your horses in the barn,” he added when they were close enough.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Corporal Argent asked.

“Ask the landlady, Ms Martin,” the young man said. He was tall and had his curly hair clipped short, and had the shiniest blue eyes Scott had ever seen. For a second he forgot he had to breathe.

“Are you going to be okay?” Scott asked when the other man walked outside with a large roll of tarpaulin under his arm.

“Yes, constable,” he gave him a smirk that made Scott’s stomach feel warm and fuzzy. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. But please, head indoors. That storm is looking pretty nasty!”

With that he was gone, and the two police officers walked back to the farmhouse. By then the entire sky had been swallowed by a dirt-orange cloud of dust.

“Ms Martin?” Allison asked they knocked on the door. They immediately heard a woman’s voice ranting.

“Jesus wept, Isaac Lahey, I swear—Oh, officers?” Ms Martin opened the door, but she was clearly expecting someone else. “Anything wrong?”

“Oh no, we are just asking if we could please hide here until the storm is over,” Corporal Argent asked.

“Sure, sure, come in. That wind is only getting worse,” Lydia let them into the house and struggled to shut the door.

The wind howled outside, but inside the house it was calm and warm. Ms Martin briskly introduced the officers to her husband, Mr Stilinski, and their farm workers: Liam, Erica, Mr Boyd, and Jackson.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Scott asked with his high-crowned hat tucked under his arm. “This Isaac Lahey you were about to scold earlier…?”

Allison looked at her companion and stifled a knowing smile. She had seen Scott pulling that hopeful puppy face before.

“Oh, yes. He’s my other farmhand,” she explained shaking her head and bringing over two cups of milky tea for the officers. “A bit of a wildcard, I’d say. Too much sass for such a lanky lad, but he’s good as gold inside, he is… You saw him in the barn, I take?”

“We saw him, yes, but he was heading out?”

Right at that moment the wind blew even harder. One of the window shutters flew off, and a brick fell in through the chimney.

“He’s still outside?” Lydia’s face turned into a mask of worry.

“He’s gone to save his bloody bees, I bet,” Jackson said.

“Where are the hives?” Scott immediately asked, leaving his tea on the table untouched.

“Outside to the left, beyond the rusty gate,” Liam offered, and before anyone could say anything else, Scott bolted and rushed into the storm.

Scott secured the door firmly shut behind him, and he covered his mouth and nose with his bandana as he walked deeper into the roaring wind. Orange and grey particles flew into his face, caking into a tear-and-dust mud around his eyes and cheeks. He quickly found the rusty gate and turned left, but then the wind changed direction, now blowing from behind, and pushing him to the floor.

The storm continued to blow around him, the rustling of branches mixing with the snapping of twigs and the grains of sand hitting on the tin roof of the barn. The cacophony around him was such that the creaking noise of a broken rusty gate flying off its hinges passed unnoticed. He was about to stand up when _something_ landed heavily on him, quickly followed by the unsettling whoosh of a broken gate flying mere inches above his head.

“Don’t move yet!” a voice yelled into his ear. Scott was now very aware that he had _someone_ lying flat on him, keeping him safe and close to the ground. “Now! Follow me!”

Scott did as he was told and, after a handful of hurried paces, he reached something wide and waist-high covered in heavy tarp.

“Come in, duck inside!” the other man shouted, pointing at a small gap under the tarpaulin. Pushed by the wind, Scott dived in and crawled under the tarp.

“You’re Isaac, right? Because—Oh my _goodness_!” Scott gasped when he realised where he was. “Are you insane?”

“Shush,” Isaac hushed him with a big smile. He was sitting on the grass with his back leaning gently against a hive. “They’re all quiet now. Don’t scare them.”

“Scare _them_?” Scott whisper-shouted. “We’re surrounded by beehives!”

“They’ll be fine,” Isaac kept smiling, putting his hands on Scott’s forearm to calm him down, and looking into his eyes. Scott slowly sat down next to Isaac. “Lovely uniform, by the way, officer…?”

“Oh, yeah. McCall. Scott McCall,” Scott muttered with a grin as he looked around, still worried about the bees.

“Nice to meet you, Scott McCall,” Isaac gave him a warm and sincere smile, and Scott seemed to relax. “Why did you come out?” he wondered.

“I… erm… I was... I mean, _we_ were worried, at the farm. That you might have got lost out in the storm? Or hurt?”

“Oh, and there I was, thinking _I_ was the one who saved _you_ from that broken gate.” Scott’s face went the same colour as his jacket. “Don’t worry, Scott. We’ll be fine here.”

“With your bees?”

Scott was genuinely curious, and Isaac could tell. The farmhand looked around his hives, covered under the heavy tarpaulin, with the dust storm still strong outside, and closed his eyes for a second, enjoying the calming and busy buzz of the bees as they hid huddled together in their combs.

“Yeah, they’ll be okay. I’m just glad that you came to find me.”

“Are you?”

“Of _course_ , I am,” Isaac chuckled. “I mean, if I had planned all of this, I would have left out the deadly broken gate flying over our heads, but I’m happy with the result.”

That made Scott laugh. “You, me, and the bees?”

“Yeah, well… I guess it gives us time to get to know each other?”


End file.
